Post from October. /Homeless and Happy. Leaving and cleaving./

Summer in Siberia has come and gone. This short cold summer felt so long because once again Tim and I didn't know when we would see each other again. As I was waiting for my visa I had a chance to spend some quality time with my grandparents in a little village type community on an island where people come to their “dacha” - summer houses and spend the summer tending their vegetable gardens, visiting each other, making wonderful hearty meals and drinking countless cups of tea during the day. It was beautiful. 

On the last day of the summer my visa was ready, and the time to say goodbye came. I took another month to have a closure. Intentional goodbyes with my family and friends. As we were saying our goodbyes, Grandpa cried, Grandma cried, Mom cried, my sister cried. And I cried, too. Those were tears of love for each other and sadness of separation. I left home five years ago, but this time it was different- I was crossing the ocean, for the first time, and I was going to get married.

I am thankful to God for my family. Imperfect and somewhat broken family. A family that stayed together in the face of so many difficulties in our lives. I am thankful... As I was leaving Russia I felt it so strongly that I was “homeless” in a good kind of way- having a home in the hearts of so many dear people-- in Russia, Thailand and Ukraine, but at the same time being detached from a certain place.

And as I arrived in Canada on October, 1, I found a home in the heart of a man who had been faithfully waiting for me. And again, I am thankful...